November 25/00 8:36 am - Quebec, Ontario, BC, Saskatchewan

Luc Tremblay, from Outremont, and Anne de Lottinville, from Laval, will participate from November 24 to 26 to the World Indoor Cycling Championships sanctioned by the International Cycling Union in Boblingen, in Germany.

It will be a ninth participation to the World Championships for Luc Tremblay who will take part in the artistic cycling individual event as well as Anne de Lottinville, one of his students at the National Circus School in Montreal, who is registered in the women's elite category. The World Championships are composed of the individual and team artistic cycling events as well as the cycle-ball team event, however, Canada did not register a cycle-ball team this year.

Luc Tremblay participated as an athlete at the World Championships from 1980 to 1986 and in 1989, and as a coach from 1991 to 1995. His return to the World Championships marks 20 years of involvement as an athlete and a coach in the sport of indoor cycling. Luc Tremblay has coached artistic cycling at the National Circus School in Montreal since 1981.

The best performance of Luc Tremblay was at the 1985 World Championships with a routine of 287 points. He is planning a performance of 284 points this year while Anne de Lottinville is planning a 250 points performance.

Artistic cycling is an event where the athlete uses a fixed gear bicycle with higher handlebars and larger seat, to do a 28 figures routine in a determined circle within a period of 6 minutes. The level of difficulty of each figure reflects in the points awarded for each figure. The jury deducts points for faults or bad execution. The athlete with the most points wins.

Normand Beaumont, from Ancienne-Lorette, is the record holder for Canada in artistic cycling, with 306 points and the 11th position in the 1993 World Championships in Hong Kong. The best ever performance of a Canadian female athlete was realized by Nathalie Noël, also of Ancienne-Lorette also at the 1993 World Championships.

The German team, with the best artistic cyclists in the world, are posting 350 points in the elite male category and 337 points in the elite female category.

Pierre Thibault - Fédération québécoise des sports cyclistes

Ontario Cup Preliminary Dates(courtesy OCA)

Although organizers have not been finalized for many O-Cup events, the Ontario Cycling Association has blocked off dates for both the road and mountain bike series. Locations and organizers are expected to be finalized within the next week.